Your contribution via Patreon or PayPal Mekeeps this site and its author alive. Thank you.

Martial Arts

Martial Arts Styles and Related Rules...

Stun and Incapacitate

...for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(tm) in MyWorld.

...for Multiverser.

Apart from special maneuvers which may have such effects if successful, any time a martial artist rolls a natural 20 in any hit against any man-sized opponent which is actually an attack of some sort, the opponent may be stunned or incapacitated. The victim must make a save v. paralyzation. If the save is successful, the attack is normal, and the victim is not stunned or incapacitated due to the perfect hit. He may still be stunned or incapacitated if that was the anticipated effect of the attack used, and suffers normal damage from the attack. If the save is failed, the die roll of the failed save is compared to the victim's hit dice or level (with +1 hit die/level for each complete +4 hp per die). If the die roll is equal to or less than the hit dice or level, the character is stunned for d6 rounds; if the failed save die roll is greater, the victim is incapacitated for d3 hours.

Apart from special maneuvers which may have such effects if successful, Multiverser does not include a stunning or incapacitating result as a normal consequence of martial arts attacks. However, it is possible for a character to have a skill which causes such a result. Such a skill would be a Bod 7@7 special damage. Skills which are attacks with a stun result have already been presented; this would be more on the order of a damage rider which caused special damage (stun) when another attack is successful. Such an attack should be limited in several ways.

The stunning result should be connected to a specific martial arts style, so that the skilled character will have to have activated that style and be using it at the time. This would of course be the case if the character learned a style in a game system world in which such a result was common; it also might be appropriate for poke styles, which intrinsically involve attacks on nerve junctures and weak points. The result might also attach to specific maneuvers which have another primary result, but for which an incidental stun or incapacitate result is appropriate, such as leveraged or intensified damage attacks with a base damage of lethal, or poke-type special maneuvers. The relative success of the attack should be at a minimum threshold, perhaps 30%, in order for the stunning skill to be allowed. If these requirements are met, the stun skill exists as a dependent damage rider, so the character must roll an untargeted skill success check to stun the opponent. Relative success should be used to determine the period for which the opponent is stunned or incapacitated. If the stun attempt is successful, the defender must make a difficult stamina check to avoid being stunned for RS/20 minutes; if he is stunned, he should be required to make a second stamina check, a difficult check to avoid being incapacitated for RS/25 hours.

Note that this does not apply to maneuvers intended to stun or incapacitate otherwise. The effect of such maneuvers is dependent upon their own terms. If the stunning skill applies to such attacks, it should first be determined whether the attack skill itself had the desired effect, and then the effect of the stunning skill should be checked. However, if the target is stunned or incapacitated by both skills, the effects should not be cumulative, but should be limited to the longer period for which the greater effect is indicated.

If in the course of examining this material, you want to know more about AD&D, there are at least hundreds of sites on the web which may help; I'll just recommend my own two: